Tremendous Old Man Injury

Last night, at some point, I broke my toe. During the day I was running around kicking a ball with my son. There wasn’t the slightest indication that the 2nd toe on my right foot would soon leave me writhing in pain. But by the end of my short workout last night, I started to notice my toe was sore for some reason. (And all I did was lift weights, didn’t really do any cardio.) By about 10pm, I noticed that this was no passing/mild pain and I started complaining to my wife (who by now just rolls her eyes at my complaints due to the frequency of my OMIs). By 3am, I decided to just get up for the day because I couldn’t sleep – in too much pain. Ibuprofen didn’t do much. I tried a building a makeshift splint using Q-Tips (I had already eaten the 3 boxes of popsicles we had in the freezer due to a popsicle-dependency issue, so popsicle sticks were out) but this didn’t help. This Q-Tip idea, by the way, is one of those harebrained ideas you get at 3am when you’re beyond tired yet grappling with a pain issue. I sit here now at work quite uncomfortable both from what appears to be a broken toe and also, perhaps, from the Q-Tips sort of poking into the bottom of my foot.

I have an MD appt this afternoon to hopefully confirm whether or not it’s a break. I kind of hope it is so that I can say that my first broken bone was due purely, to an Old Man Injury.

UPDATE:

Went to the MD on Friday and the first thing he ruled out was…gout. I felt positively medieval when he mentioned this as a possibility. But he ruled it out. Then they took an x-ray and ruled out a break. In the end, he thought it was probably a strained tendon or ligament down there. Based on the fact that by yesterday afternoon it looked like I had 2 big toes on the same foot, I’m guessing it may have been more like a tear of some kind. It’s a bit better today but wow, I really have no idea what happened here.

I feel your pain. I’m 14 days in on a pinched nerve in my neck, which has been shooting a dull ache down my right arm around the clock. It’s the perfect Old Man Injury — you can sustain it simply by sitting at your desk with less-than-perfect posture. Alieve, aspirin, Tylenol, ibuprofen, vicodin, muscle relaxants — none of it works. The physical therapy is helping but it will probably take a month to get back to being pain free. Lesson learned? Do like your Mom says and sit up straight…

Keep us informed Andy. If it started out as a sore toe then turned into real pain I can’t imagine it’s broken. I would think you would have known immediately when it broke–unless of course your bones are just getting really brittle!!!!

56 you’re right. md also indicated i would have known if it were broken and they x-rayed it. not broken. and davek, first thing MD ruled out was gout. that is a very old man thing to get so i’m glad it’s not gout.

Guys–stop with the old man gout theory. I’m 55 years old I’ve never had gout but my best friend who is only 3 months older than me has dealt with it for 3 years. Surely you do not consider 52 to be “very old man” territory ;) If so, let me tell you, you’ll be there before you know it.

Be really glad you do not have it though. When my friend was about 6 years old he burnt his hand severely by placing it on a stove burner. He told me recently that the pain he endures when the gout flares up is second only to that burn.

be careful andy, this particular type of OMI is only the first link in a chain.

unfortunately, i’ve learned with toe injuries (by kicking the portion of the drier that sticks out just enough whilst walking normally, then falling into a crumpled heap on the floor and yelling like a banshee for 5 full minutes), that they often lead to ankle pain – due to strange-walking induced by the toe pain. those ankle ‘injuries’ then lead to knee troubles, brought on by even stranger walking patterns due to the ankle pain due to the toe pain. then the knee pain leads to some weird hip and/or back pain on one side or the other due to favoring one leg due to the knee pain brought on by the ankle pain brought on by the strange-walking induced by the toe pain.

pretty soon, your stubbed toe has you either hobbling like a gout-ridden, war-injured, scoliosis-ized, crazy old man with an irrational fear of driers.

and just when you’re walking upright again, and the fear subsides, is usually when you kick the damn thing again.

Fantastic account – and quite accurate I must say. (you really do have a gift for writing Joshy…)

Just yesterday I was noticing some fairly sharp pains in my hip due to the limp. The knee has also acted up some and the right side of the injured foot has been in consistent pain due to dealing with most of the weight. Fortunately, for some odd reason, the swelling went down significantly just last night and the limp now is not as pronounced. of course, I am planning to head back to the gym tonight to lift weights for a few minutes where I’ll most likely re-injure it by doing whatever nothing-thing I was doing when I injured it.

(One thing I’m starting to wonder about OMIs – do they go away as suddenly/mysteriously as they come on?)